1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an adjustable threshing cage vane for the threshing system of an agricultural combine, and more particularly, to a system and method for remote control of an adjustable threshing cage vane, e.g., the pitch angle thereof, including while the threshing system is operating, for improving threshing performance and other operating parameters.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to utilize a plurality of vanes on the inner surface of a threshing rotor cage or casing to assist in guiding or directing the movement of the crop material through the threshing system of a combine. It is further known that such vanes can be manually moved and secured in several positions or orientations, namely, pitch angles, for a variety of reasons, including for different crop types or conditions. In a basic form the vanes are be bolted on the cage or casing at several different pitch angles relative to the axis rotation of a rotor of the system. In a more complex form, it is known to link multiple vanes for joint adjustment. Reference in this regard, DePauw et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,380 issued Jan. 13, 1981 to International Harvester Co; and more recently, McKee et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,473,170, issued Jan. 6, 2009 to CNH America LLC, the latter of which patents discloses visual indicia of vane position.
While manual setting of threshing cage vane position has utility, it suffers from shortcomings including inability to adjust during operation of the threshing system, particularly in real time, responsive to changing conditions, for instance, responsive to changing conditions such as varying crop conditions within a field, e.g., population/yield, moisture content; atmospheric conditions, e.g., humidity; ground speed; grain loss; and the like, and changes in other operating parameters or settings made in process, such as, but not limited to: threshing rotor speed; concave gap; power consumption, and the like. In this regard, threshing rotor speed and the concave gap (distance between a perforated concave region of the threshing cage or casing and the rotating rotor contained therein) are sometimes varied in process while harvesting for improving productivity, throughput and other conditions, but must be balanced with other factors such as possible grain cracking or other damage, and grain loss.
As a practical illustration of the possible impact of the above shortcomings, before and/or during a harvesting operation, a combine operator will set the rotor speed, that is, the rotational speed of the rotor or rotors within the threshing cage, and/or the concave gap. Settings for these parameters will be selected for various reasons, including, but not limited to, to accommodate or adjust for variations in crop moisture content and humidity, which can change over the course of a day, and between different crop varieties and regions of a field. Grain cracking and other damage can occur as a result of over aggressive threshing, which can result from high rotor speed and/or an undersized concave gap size. Higher than desired grain loss can result from settings of other systems of the combine, e.g., the grain cleaning system, and also from the threshing cage vane setting. In this latter regard, a steeper or more vertical vane pitch angle setting will typically result in the crop material flowing in a correspondingly steeper or tighter helical path through that region of the threshing cage, and thus greater dwell time in the threshing system for threshing and separating; while a less steep or more horizontal vane pitch angle will result in crop material flow at a less steep or looser helix and less dwell time, threshing and separating, which can result in increased grain loss.
Thus, what is sought is a manner of threshing cage vane position setting that provides the ability for real time adjustment while harvesting and optimization, while avoiding one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.